Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to raise this issue. The availability of broadband is a burning issue in many locations, but in others it is not because broadband coverage can be acquired without difficulty. Many of those who are having difficulty getting broadband are in my constituency in Donegal. People can live close to where broadband is provided but, in reality, they live far away from it. I have raised this issue on a number of occasions and the reason I raise it again is that I am aware the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has outlined a response regarding the variety of platforms that are available on the market. He was speaking about DSL through the telephone network, fixed wireless, mobile, cable, satellite and fibre optic. He accepted that expanding availability across the country was a priority.

He told me last year he was hoping to commence a scheme this year and conclude it in 2011. At that point, he said discussions had begun with the European Council in the first stage of applying for and securing state aid clearance. He said he would progress the project which he believed had the potential to ensure communities across the country got the correct solution for the provision of broadband. I know people who have moved back to Donegal from Dublin or from abroad and they feel pride in coming back home to try to work from there. They are trying to give a boost to their county having been successful in Dublin or abroad and they have decided to raise their families locally because of the better quality of life and so on. However, when they return, they find everything they took for granted in Dublin or abroad is not available and they cannot believe that technology is so far behind in what they would perceive as normal parts of Donegal. The first Adjournment matter addressed foreign direct investment and one of the basic requirements for this is broadband.

I attended a public meeting in Carrigans last night about post office services. The issue of telephone coverage for the Garda came up in the context of security and implementing secure policing. Broadband is needed in Donegal for a number of different reasons. I have concentrated on the case for business but there are social and security elements to this issue in the context of communications coverage. If we are to deliver business opportunities and enable all age groups in the community to utilise fully the potential of the Internet, it is important that solutions are sought that will cover all areas without broadband.

BT is supposed to have covered 99% or 100% of Northern Ireland but it is as important to cover the remaining 1% of the population as the other 99% that has a service. The Minister of State will accept the tenor of my contribution as he has responsibility for enterprise and employment and, therefore, he understands how important is broadband. I am seeking an update on whether the Minister charged with that responsibility has been able to secure State aid clearance. If so, where stands the project he proposed for 2010-11? Will we get a guarantee that the needs of Donegal and elsewhere will be met? If so, how? Will this be done through Leader? What mechanism will be used to deliver this project?

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator, as I am pleased to have the opportunity to address this issue. As evidenced by previous debates, broadband availability has been recognised as a priority for Government in the national development plan, the programme for Government and, most recently, in Building Ireland's Smart Economy — A Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal, which placed further emphasis on the importance of broadband connectivity as a key element of future sustainable economic growth. The Government believes broadband is a key enabling infrastructure for the knowledge-intensive services activities on which future prosperity increasingly depends.

Bearing in mind these policy imperatives, the national broadband scheme, NBS, was established to encourage and secure the provision of broadband services to certain target areas in Ireland in which broadband services were not available and were unlikely to be provided by the market. The wider policy objectives of the NBS were to address the market's failure to provide broadband in the more remote parts of rural Ireland, to address economic and social exclusion concerns due to a lack of broadband access and to enhance the competitiveness of the regions for foreign and indigenous investment. The NBS was designed during 2007 and a public procurement process — competitive dialogue — was run during 2007 and 2008 to appoint an appropriate service provider. Hutchison 3G Ireland, trading as 3, was the preferred bidder and was appointed on 23 December 2008 to run the scheme. 3 is required to provide a service to all NBS premises that seek a service. All premises must be covered by the NBS service by September 2010. 3 continues to progress its network roll-out and NBS broadband services are available in almost half the 1,028 designated electoral divisions to be covered under the scheme. To implement the NBS, a map based on electoral divisions was developed following completion of the assessment of broadband coverage in the State in mid-2008. At that time, the Department had to determine which electoral divisions should be included in the NBS.

EU State aid and competition rules govern how states can intervene in areas where there are existing service providers. Broadband platforms do not respect exact geographic boundaries and are difficult to define due to radio propagation or DSL reach issues. The nature of broadband networks is such that they provide a coverage footprint over a certain area rather than an individual link to isolated premises. It was essential to guard against the NBS coverage footprint spilling over to an extent which would be unacceptable from a State aids perspective into surrounding areas served by existing service providers. Accordingly, unacceptable market distortion would have resulted from including premises located in areas considered to be substantially served by existing service providers. These areas had to be excluded from the scope of the scheme and will not be addressed by the NBS. Uncovered buildings in the electoral divisions excluded from the NBS — approximately 12,500 buildings, represent 0.7% of all buildings in the State.

In addition to those premises identified as being outside of the coverage of service providers, there are also premises that appear to be in a covered area but due to local obstacles or technical issues are not able to avail of coverage from the existing broadband operators. For example, the premises may be too far from the nearest DSL enabled telephone exchange or may not be in the line of sight of the local fixed wireless access service providers' base station or cell. Similarly, the initial cost of connecting to available satellite service providers may be prohibitively expensive for many people.

There is no substantiated estimate of the number of consumers who find themselves in this position and a key element of putting a scheme in place will be an exercise to identify those remaining premises where no broadband service is available. In a fully liberalised market it is essential to intervene only where the market is unable to provide a service and my Department will consult fully with the existing service providers in this respect.

Funding for rural broadband has become available under the European economic recovery plan through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, EAFRD, administered by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The Department for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources is responsible for developing a new measure under the rural development plan to use this funding to address the issue of basic broadband availability to remaining unserved rural premises outside of the NBS areas. "Rural" in this case is defined under the rural development plan by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and excludes the following areas: the city council boundaries of Dublin, Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick; the borough council boundaries of Kilkenny, Sligo and Wexford; and the town council boundaries of Athlone, Ballina, Castlebar, Cavan, Dundalk, Ennis, Killarney, Letterkenny, Mallow, Monaghan, Mullingar, Tralee, Tuam and Tullamore. A total of €13.413 million under the EAFRD is available for the broadband initiative. This allocation, being 75% of the total, will mean a total available funding of €17.884 million for the initiative. This funding will allow for expenditure up until the end of 2012.

State aid approval has been granted by the European Commission as part of the overall process of securing the necessary approvals and funding for the scheme. This approval was obtained early in the process of planning and design of the scheme and was granted on the basis of a high level description of the proposed scheme. The clearance is based on a number of conditions which must be observed in the final form of the scheme. Detailed planning is under way for a scheme which would offer a basic broadband service to rural unserved premises.

The key qualifying criteria for the scheme will be that the premises in question is outside of the areas covered by the NBS, in a rural location as defined under the rural development plan and not capable of being served by existing service providers. The key component of the scheme will be to identify applicants who fulfil these conditions. I stress this scheme will not be available in locations served by existing service providers and the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources will consult existing Internet service providers to ensure the scheme does not encroach on their existing customer base and to verify that applicants are unable to obtain a broadband service.

This scheme should not be regarded as an option in cases where consumers are unhappy with the level of service available to them from existing providers. Service providers already have complaint procedures in place to resolve issues of this kind. In a parallel exercise, there will be a competitive process to engage a service provider who will offer a broadband service to qualified applicants under the scheme. While the exact details have yet to be finalised, I expect the service offered under this scheme would at least match the service offered under the NBS. This process will be technology neutral and it will be a matter for the bidders to decide which technical approach they propose in their bids. The proposed scheme is intended to complement Ireland's previous broadband intervention initiatives and will, subject to the market responding to the scheme, ensure the remaining unserved rural premises will be able to avail of a broadband service. This underlines the Government's commitment to the goal of ubiquitous broadband. It is intended to commence the scheme this year with the identification of premises not capable of receiving broadband. It is expected the roll-out phase of the scheme will be carried out during 2011 and 2012.

Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)
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I really appreciate the level of detail in the Minister of State's answer, and I am glad the scheme is moving on. The problem I find is that people are saying that if a particular company is covering an area and there is a tree or a rock in the wrong place there is no coverage for particular individuals, while to bring some other company in would distort the marketplace. From what the Minister of State said, if someone has proof from a service provider that he or she cannot get a service from that company, he or she would be eligible to find a positive alternative through this new scheme. That is where I am coming from. It is very much a case of the people who have been let down by the existing companies, for one reason or other, who need attention. Just because a company might provide 97% coverage does not mean the people who fall within the 3% failure rate should not be considered.

While I have the opportunity, I congratulate the Minister of State on his initiative as regards the seminars around the country. Last night we had a seminar in Letterkenny from 6.30 p.m. to 8 p.m., where these types of issues as regards taxation etc. to do with supporting small to medium-sized enterprises were addressed. The meeting was well attended and very informative.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Just to reiterate, detailed planning is now underway for a scheme which would offer a basic broadband service to unserved premises. The key qualifying criteria are that the premises in question is outside the areas cover by the NBS, in a rural location as defined under the rural development plan or not capable of being serviced by an existing service provider.